WASHINGTON D.C.
A Virgin Islands man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations or RICO Act, officials stated.
According to court documents, Wahilli James, aka Dapa, of Frederiksted, St. Croix, was a member of the Paul Girard Criminal Enterprise (Enterprise), a local street gang in the Virgin Islands.
Members and associates of the Enterprise engaged in narcotics distribution; money laundering; planned armed robberies of jewelry stores, racetracks, and banks,
James was also involved with three murders involving rival gang members and several other shootings, according to authorities. James participated in two armed robberies and provided guns for his co-conspirators to use in criminal activity.
“This defendant is the eleventh and final Girard gang member to either plead guilty or be convicted at trial for their heinous crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “These defendants victimized local residents by waging a bloody street war throughout St. Croix and robbing commercial establishments on both St. Croix and St. Thomas”
James pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy. He is facing up to 20 years in prison.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Paul Girard, the leader of the Enterprise, coordinated all of the gang’s activities while in prison. Girard and two other co-conspirators were convicted at trial in March 2022.
The FBI investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Marie Zisa and Christopher Taylor of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Edwards for the District of the Virgin Islands are prosecuting the case.